Operating mechanism for elevator-shaft doors and car gates



Jan. 27, 1931. F. A. BOEDTCHER OPERATING IECHANI SM FQR ELEVATOR SHAFTDOORS AND CAR GATES Filed July 2, 1927 Fran BY AT RNEYS.

Patented Jan. 27, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT FRANZ A. BOEDTCHER, orBERGENFIELD, NEwuERsEY, AssIGNoE To oTIs ELEVATOR V OFFICE 2 COMPANY, OFJERSEY CITY, JERSEY, A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY,

OPERATING MEcH NIsM FOR ELEvAToR-sHAET noons AND CAR GATES Applicationfiled July 2, 1927. Serial. No. 203,054.

This invention is directed to mechanism for effecting the operation ofthe doors of an elevator shaft in a manner to free the operator from thenecessity of manually operating the lelhaft door when the elevator carstops'a't a oor. v y

The object of the present invention is to provide for the rapid andeflicient, automatic operation of the shaft doors from a prime movercarried by the car and adapted, when the car is in a position at a floorto cooperate with mechanical means associated with the correspondingdoor in order to speedily effect the opening and closing of said door topermit passengers to exit from or enter the car.

An important feature of the invention resides in the provision ofmechanism associated with each shaft door and through the operation ofwhich the door can be opened and closed mechanically and in the furtherprovision of means mounted on the elevator car to operate the dooropening and closing mechanism at the respective floors, the means at thefloors and on the car being normally free from engagement with oneanother, but

being so constituted that, when a caris atthe floor, the power mechanismof the car may be caused to interlock with the door operating imechanism of the shaft by means of an electric control preferablyoperating magnetically to couple the power mechanism with the dooroperating mechanism and to operate the latter from the former to openand closethe cloor.' V

In the preferred manner of carrying out the'present invention, each dooroperated mechanism in the shaft embodies a rack which, whenreciprocated, imparts opening or closing movement to the door dependingupon the direction of its reciprocation While the power mechanism on thecar embodies a power driven gear normally free from engagement with theracks of the respective floor doors. Thus, the car is adapted to travelvertically of the shaft without bringing the power means orthedooroperating means into actual cooperating relation.

WVith these two separate trains of elements, 7 however, is associatedelectrical means'which, 7 upon energization, serves to bring the parts 7manner.

invention to specific electrical means, I have found in practice that itis entirely feasible to temporarily magnetize eitherthe rack or the gearwhen it is desired to bring these into coacting relation. Withoutlimiting the a parts into meshing relationand a coil may be associatedwith the gear for this purpose. It will be apparent in this connectionthat as the coil is set close to the gear, this coil, when energized,will temporarily magnetize the gear which will draw the rack into meshwith the gear and a motor or other suitable prime mover is associatedwith the gear and when operated serves to actuate the gear for thepurpose of reciprocating the rack and imparting movementto the door.

The door may be positively operated in both directions from the primemover, but it is wholly practical to operate the door in one directionby a spring or othersuitable means and tooperate it in the otherdirection from the prime mover by way of the gear and rack, or theirequivalents.

Features of the invention, other than those specified, will be apparentfrom the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. f a

The accompanying drawingsillustrate one practical embodiment of theinvention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood asillustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

the inventionin a more or less diagrammatic Figure 2 is ahorizontalsection through a part oftliepower mechanism, this section being takenin the planeof the drive shaft as shown by the line 22 of Figure 1.-

Figure 1. a

Referring to the illustrative showing of the Figure 3'is asection'on theline 3v3 of is adapted for sliding movement to open or closethe'shaftopening at a floor. A single door installation is shown inFigure 1, but double doorsmay be employed without departing from theinvention.

Pivoted to suitable stationary support 3 is a toggle embodying two armsat and 5, the arm 5 being pivoted at 6 to the door and having a handle 7whereby the toggle may be manually operated if desired for the purposeof opening and closing the door. The toggle may be operated in onedirection, however, by means of a cable 8 securedatthe elbow of thetoggle and extending about di rectional pulleys 9 and 10 and secured toa rack 11. The rack is mounted for vertical sliding movement on aguide12 secured atits upper and lower edges on supports 13 mounted inthe shaftwaiy. This guide 12 i's preferably of resilient material and isadapted to normally assume a straight condition while adapted to beflexed in a direction away from the wall of the shaft. If the rack ismoved in a downward direction, tension will be exerted through the cable8 to break the to le and cause 0 enin of the CO C door.

The door is opened against the tension of the spring 1 1 which serves tocushion the opening movement and to return the door to closedpositionprovided that the rack is not held against lifting movement.

The operations of the toggle may be further cushioned by any suitablecushioning device 15 common to this art.

All the mechanism thus far described is associated with each floor doorof the elevator shaft and is duplicated for each floor. Mounted on theelevator car and in any suitable position on said car is the power mechanism next to be described.

This power mechanism embodies a power shaft 16 adapted to be driven byany suitable prime mover shown, for the purpose of illustration, as anelectric motor 17. The electric motor 1? preferably drives the shaft 16through suitable speed reducing gearing of any conventional type showndiagrammatically at'18. On the shaft 16 is keyed a plate 19 in suchmanner as to be rigid with the shaft while a plate 20 is also keyed'tothe shaft 16, but is mounted forlongitudinal sliding movement on theshaft. 'Between the plates 19 and 20 which collectively constitute aclutch, a gear 21 is mounted to freely revolve on the shaft, so long asthe plates 19 and 20 do not frictionally grip the gear between them.

Embracing the shaft 16 and spaced therefrom by a bushing 22a is a coil22 included in an electric circuit 23 which also includes a suitablesource of current supply 24: and a switch 25. Connected to thecircuit 23is a shunt circuit 26 including a magnet 27, the armature 28 of which isfulcrumed on a suitable bracket 29 mounted on the car. This armature isadapted to function as a lever of the first class and is provided with anose 30 adapted to bear against the sliding collar 31 which embraces theshaft 16 beyond the plate 20. The collar 31 has a radial flange 32within which is formed a ball race for antifriction bearings 33 whichbear against the outer surface of the plate 20.

When the switch 25 is open, the gear 21 will be loose on the shaft 16,but if the switch 25 is closed current will be fed simultaneouslyto themagnets 22 and 27 in multiple.

is so positioned that when a car is at rest adjacenta floor, it will bejuxtaposed with the rack 11, but will be spaced therefrom. However, whenthe gear 21 assumes the characteristics of a magnet, it will act uponthe rack 11 as its armature and cause the guide 12 to be flexed in thedirection of the gear to permit the drawing of the rack into mesh withthe gear.

' 'So long as the gear 21 remains magnetized, it will hold the rackll inmesh. therewith and therefore maintain these parts in coactinginterlocked engagement. If the motor 17 is nowenergized by closing theswitch 3 1,the motor will operate to rotate the shaft 16 in a directionto depress the rack 11.' As the rack descends, the cable is drawn overthe directional pulleys 9 and 10 for the purpose of flexing the toggleagainst the tension of the spring 14; and the door is thereby opened.Then the door is fully opened any tendency of the motor to continue todrive the 21 is offset by the friction clutch connection between thegear and the shaft which permits of slipping of the shaft with referenceto the gear so that breakage of parts will not result. If desired, theclosing of the switch 3 1 may be timed in any suitable manner so as toonly operate the gear and rack for sufficient period to insure thecomplete opening of the door. Moreover, the switch 34 may be interlockedwith the switch 25, or. if desired, these switches may be combined and asingle switch utilized to control both the motor and the magnets 2', and22. The manner in which these circuits are interlockedor separatelycontrolled is optional and the present invention is not limited in thisregard.

It will be noted, however, that when the door is fully opened, thespring 14. will be placed under maximum tension, so that if the switch25 is opened to tie-energize the magnets 22 and 27, the drivingconnection between the shaft 16 and the gear 21 will cease to exist andthe spring 14 is free to close the door during which operation the rack11 will be elevated.- Tt will of course be understood in this connectionthat as soon as the magnet 22 is de-energized, the gear 21 will lose itsmagnetism and therebyrelease the rack 11 which will be retracted out ofengagement with the gear by the inherent resiliency of the guide 12. V

The preferred form of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings and in this embodiment the plates 19 and act a's'a frictionclutch controlled by the magnet 27. I find, in practice, however, thatthe parts 20, 31, 28 and the magnet 27 may be dispensed with, since, inpractice, the energizing of the magnet 22will cause the gear 21 to bedrawn sufi'iciently tight against the plate 19-to provide the necessarydriving connection. The clutch which Ihave disclosed is, however,illustrated as optional and to insure adequate connection for operatingthe heaviest shaft doors. 7 i

I have hereinbefore specifically described the invention as particularlya'daptedfor the operation of shaft doors. It is entirely feasible,however, to employ the mechanism thus far described for the simultaneousoperation of car gates. Thisecan be accomplished by mounting on the cara gear positioned directly above or below the gear 21 and fixed on ashaft 42, which is mounted in fixed hearings on the car so as to mountthe gear :0 in such relative position to the rack 11 that when said rackis drawn into mesh with the gear 21, it will also be meshed with thegear 40. As a result, the operation of the rack by the gear 21 willcause the gear 40 to be oper ated. If desired, a magnet it maybe alsoassociated with the gear 10 in order that said gear may be magnetized toassist the gear 21 in drawing and maintaining therack in mosh so long asthese magnets are energized. The shaft 12 may serveto drive any suitableoperative connections between thisshaft and the gate or gates of thecar. As illustrative of this construction, the drawings showthe gear 40keyed to the shaft i2 and the sheave 101 forced against the gear by afollower 103 keyed to the shaft and acted upon by a spring 104, which,in turn, acts against a stop 105.

V] hen the gear 10 is energized by the coil 13,

a the parts are bound together, so that the gear will drive the shaftwhile the magnetic torque will also turn the sheave 101 for the purposeof winding up the cable 8a, which is connected to the car door operatingmechanism and acts around directional rolls 10a and 9a and which partscorrespond to the parts 8, 9 and 10 of the shaft door operatingmechanism. The sheave 101is illustrated in Figure 1 as somewhatseparated from the gear 1-0 in order to avoid confusion between thehatchway door operating connection 8 and the car gate operatingconnection 8a. This, it is to be understood, is merely diagrammatic, forthe sheave 101 is naturally adjacent the gear 40, as shown in Figure 3.

In connection with the magnetizing of the gears 40 and'21,I have shownin the drawings single coils. This is for the purpose of illustrationonly and double or horseshoe coils or any other suitable coilarrangement may be employed to magnetize these gears. Moreover, the rackmay be caused to engage the gears by magnets which may be positioned todirectly act upon the rack 11 to draw it into 7 mesh with the gears withor without magnetizing the gears. in fact, so many differentarrangements of magnetic control of the driven or interlocking relationbetween these parts are possible that it is not feasible to show themall. Suffice it'to say in this regard that the present inventioncontemplates a prime:

mover on the car at such times as it is de-- sired to operate the shaftdoors fromthe prime mover. The drawings show a sliding door mounted toslide on a horizontal track, but single or multiple hinged or folding orsliding doors operable either horizontally or vertically may be operatedby the mechanism of this invention through the interposition of suitablemechanicalv adjuncts as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Inthis connection, it may be stated that the terms door and gate are usedinterchangeably without intent to differentiate the closed door from theopen ornamental or collapsible gate. l I i In carrying outthisinvention, it is found that themagnetic clutch which I have shown inthe drawings as embodying either or both the plates 19 and 20 Wlllpermit of sufficient slippage to overcome shocks due to quick startingor stopping of the operating parts,.

but. in some cases I find it desirable to interpose a suitable frictionclutch between the motor 17 and gear 21. This clutch may be housed inthe housing 18 with the reduction gearing and. when such a frictionclutch as will permit slippage for the purposes stated,

is employed, thegear 21 may be keyed to the shaft 16. I

I have hereinbefore stated that the switches 25 and 3 1 may becontrolled in difi'erent ways and there is no intention to limit theparticular control of these switches either separately or collectively.It may be pertinent, however, to note that the said switches maybeeither manually operated or may be interlocked in any suitable mannerwith either the control or operating parts of the elevator. Theoperativeness of the present inven tion is not, however, in anywisedependent upon the particular manner of operating the switches inquestion.

I wish it further understood that while I have shown an electric motoras a prime mover driving a gear 21 of the power mecha nism to operatethe rack 11 of the operating mechanism, the invention is not limited tothis specific construction as mechanical equivalents for transferringmovement from the power mechanism on the car to the door operatingmechanism of the shaft, may be used where the driving and drivenelements are respectively mounted to be magnetically engaged with oneanother, i. e., magnetically interlocked to provide for a driving anddriven relation of the character herein before specified.

The drawings illustrate a construction, moreover, wherein a door isopened by the power mechanism carried by the car, the door being closedby the spring 14 when the rack is retractedfrom the gear 21. It isentirely feasible, however, without departing from this invention toboth open and close the door by power. If the motor 17 is a reversiblemotor and a positive connection is pro- 'vided between the lower end ofthe rack and the toggle of the door, this will fulfill the function ofthe spring 1%, and will serve to straighten out the toggle when the rackis mechanically elevated.

The present invention embodies many practical features of advantage overthe prior art. It is extremely simple in construction, very economicalto install and is thoroughly positive and dependable in its operationsThe duplication of power devices at the various floors is renderedunnecessary by the employment of unitary power means carried by the carand adapted to be attached or de tached from the door operatingmechanism of the respective floors when the car is in juxtaposition withthe floor. As the car moves up and down the shaft in its normal.operations, there is positively no connection between the powermechanism and the door op rating device and the respective parts do notcome into operation until the car is at or in the zone of a floor. Theadvantage of this invention will at once be apparent to those skilled inthe art. It provides an extremely simple yet highly efficient means formechanically opening a door. whereas the opening of a door has beeneither accomplished manually or by relatively complicated mechanismembodying expensive duplication of parts.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the present invention inits preferred practical form, but theinvention is to be understood asfully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operatingrack mounted to reciprocate in an elevator shaft, a gear carried by theelevator car and normally spaced from the rack to permit the car totravel in the shaft without engaging the rack, a prime mover foroperating the gear, and means for magnetically attracting the rack intoengagement with the gear.

2. In an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operatingrack mounted to reciprocate in an elevator shaft, a gear carried by theelevator car and normally spaced from the rack to permit the car totravel in the shaftwithout engaging the rack, a prime mover foroperating the gear, and magnetic means, of which the rack constitutes anarmature, for drawing the rack into cngagement with the gear.

3-3. in an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operatingrack mounted to reciprocate in an elevator shaft, a gear carried by theelevator car and normally spaced from the rack to permit the car totravel in the shaft without engaging the rack, a prime mover foroperating the gear, and means for magnetizing the gear, whereby it isadapted to function as a magnet to draw the raclr, as its armature, intomesh with the gear.

4. in an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operatingrack, means for mounting the rack in the elevator shaft forreciprocation and for movement perpendicular to the toothed face of theracl-z, a gear carried by the elevator car, means for driving the gear,said gear and rack being normally positioned to porn-lit the gear tomove past the rack without engaging therewith, and magnetic means, ofwhich the rack constitutes an armature, for drawing the rack from itsnormally retracted position into engagement with the gear.

5. In an assembly of the character described, a door, a door operatingrack, means for mounting the rack in the elevator shaft forreciprocation and for movement perpendicular to the toothed face of therack, a gear carried by the elevator car, means for driving the gear,said gear and rack being normally positioned to permit the gear to movepast the rack without engaging therewith, and means for n'iagnetizingthe gear for drawing the rack into mesh therewith.

6. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft door, a dooroperating element mounted in the elevator shaft, operative connectionsbetween the shaft door and said element, a car door operating elementmounted on the elevator car, a driving eleed on the elevator car, adriving element also 7 mounted on the car, and means for magneticallydrawing the door operating element of the shaft into operativeengagement with both the driving element on the car and the car dooroperating element on the car.

8. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft door, a dooroperating element mounted in the elevator shaft, operative connectionsbetween the shaft door and 7 said element, a cardo-or operating elementmounted on the elevator car, a driving element also mounted on the car,and means for magnetizing the driving element and the door operatingelement on the car, whereby they are adapted to operate as magnetstodraw the door operating element'of the shaft into engagement with them.7

9. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft door, a dooroperating rack mounted for reciprocation in the shaft and operativelyconnected to the shaft door, a driving gear mounted on the car, a cardoor operating gear also mounted on the car with both of said gearsnormally spaced fr-omthe rack, and magnetic means, of which the'rack Vconstitutes an armature for drawing the rack into simultaneousengagement with both gears.

10. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft having floordoors and door operating mechanism embodying a driven element associatedwith each floor door, in com- 7 bination with a car movable 1n theshaft, power mechanism mounted on the car and common to all the drivenelements of the shaft, said power mechanism embodying a driving elementnormally spaced from the driven elements of the respective dooroperating mechanisms to permit of movement of the car in the shaftwithout engaging with said parts and said driven elements of the dooroperating mechanisms and the driving element of the power mechanismbeing relatively movable toward and away from one another into and outof coactive relation, and magnetic means mounted on the car and of whichany: juxtaposed driven element of, the shaft is adapted to constitute anarmature, for drawing said juxtaposed driven element into coactiverelation with the driving element on .the car.

'11. In an assembly of the character described, adoor, adoor operatingelement mounted in the shaft and adaptedto be driven, a driving'elementon the car and normally spaced from the driven element'in the shaft, aprime mover on thecar, a clutch connection betweenthe prime moverandther driving elementfand magnetic means for magnetically"causing thedriving and driven elements to engage with one another.

12. In anassembly' of the character described, a door, a door operatingelement mounted in the" shaft and, adapted to be driven, a drivingelement on the car and normally spaced from the driven element in theshaft, a prime mover on the car, a clutch connection between the primemover and the ".5

driving element, and magnetic means for magnetically causing the drivingand driven elements to engage wit-h one another, and for operatingtherclutch to operatively connect the prime mover to the driven element.

13. In an assembly of the character described, a shaft door, a carwithin the shaft and also having a door, a door operating element forthe shaft door, a door operating element for'the car door, adrivingelement from which both door operating elements are adapted to bedriven, said door operating elements being normally-in non-drivenrelation to the driving element, and means for'magnetically connectingboth door operating elex ments in driven relation with the drivingelement. I

14. In an elevator installation having a hatchway provided with'ahatchway door for affording access to the hatchway from a 1 landing andan elevator car provided with door closing theentrance thereto;operatlng means for said hatchway door; operat- 1ng meansfor the cardoor; dr ving means from which saidfc ar door and hatchw'ay dooroperating means are adapted to be driven, said hatchway door operatingmeans being normally in non-driven relation to said driving means; andmeans for magnetically effecting the operative engagement of said dooroperating means and said driving means.

said car door operating means being adapted to be driven by said drivingmeans through the intermediary of said hatchway door operating means.

15. In an elevator installation having a hatchway provided with a doorfor aflording access'to the hatchway from a landing and a car movable inthe hatchway and provided with a door for aifordin access to the inte-11::

rior of the car a door operating rack mounted for reciprocation in saidhatchway and operatively connected to the hatchway door; a

car door operating gear mounted on the car and operativelyconnected tosaid car door ;'a gs,"

driving gear also mounted on the car and nor inally spaced from saidrack and said first mentioned gear; said driving gear being adapted tobe engaged with said rack to'efi'ect M reciprocation of the latter tooperate said hatohway door and to drive said car door operating gearthrough the intermediary of said rack for operating said car door; and

means adapted to cause the engagement of said driving gear and said cardoor operating gear With said rack for effecting the simultaneousoperation of said car door and said hatchway door by said driving gear.

In testimony whereof I have signed the foregoing specification.

FRANZ A. BOEDTCHER.

